Inevitable
by Georgethegiraffe
Summary: It was only inevitable that they would graduate. It was only inevitable that they would move to different places. It was only inevitable that their relationship would fail. It was only inevitable that they would meet again. Two-shot future fic.
1. Chapter 1: The Breakup (and aftermath)

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything familiar (aka Pitch Perfect, High Highs)**

**Author's (first) note: ****Two-shot future fic, covering the relationship between Beca and Jesse two years after graduating from Barden. Not exactly chronological, so check the dates. **

**Part 1: The Breakup (and aftermath)**

* * *

><p><strong>January 15<strong>**th****, 2016: New York**

Jesse grazes his fingers over the velvet box and sighs. _It's been six months; it's time to move on, _he thinks to himself, cursing under his breath. He still isn't over her. Jesse didn't think he'd ever be over her. Shoving the box back into his coat pocket, he forces a smile. Jesse makes a mental note to stop carrying around the ring to all of his dates.

Jesse waits for his fifth blind date in six months. Donald had claimed that it had been time for him to get out of his post breakup funk a month after Beca had suddenly dumped him. _Easy for him to say_, Jesse thinks, Donald had Lilly, and in their three and a half years of dating they were still going strong. Jesse envies Donald and Lilly's relationship. Even though Donald had graduated, he and Lilly stayed together. Now, Lilly lives in Seattle doing some sort of modern art thing while Donald is in New York with Jesse, working on his skills as a hip-hop duo with Cynthia Rose. For this date, Donald had practically forced Jesse out the door.

* * *

><p>"Dude, you can't just sit here forever" Donald explains, "She's gone"<p>

"I don't care that she isn't here, I don't want to go out on another pointless date where the girl can clearly see that I am not interested!"

"I found this really cool girl, loves movies, smart, funny, extremely attractive. I think you'll like her"

"Really Donald? That doesn't sound like the last four girls you set me up with" Jesse says dryly.

"Come on! You need this. I'm sorry that you and Beca didn't work out, but you can't keep sitting here feeling sorry for yourself. Get out there, be a young gentleman in New York. I don't see why you're so against going out on a single date. IT'S ONE DATE! It's not going to kill you. Besides, you haven't really been yourself since she dumped you" Donald pleads

"I said no"

"Jesse"

"Donald"

"Last date I'll set you up on" Donald bargains, "AS long as you go" he quickly amends.

"Fine"

* * *

><p>At seven sharp a girl with long, thick, dark hair and burning green eyes walks into the restaurant. Her face is clear of most makeup, and her hair fell in loose waves. She checks up with the hostess, who points her towards Jesse's table<p>

"Zoe?"

"You must be Jesse." Zoe says, as she sticks out her hand

"I am" Jesse replies with a quick nod.

"So… Jesse, how long have you lived in the city?" Zoe inquires, pulling out her chair.

"Um, only about seven months now. You?"

"Five years now, I think. I first moved here to go to school at Barnard, now I'm working as an intern at the New York Times" Zoe replies, "What do you do?"

"Recently I got hired to work as an assistant to the composer Liam Rickards, who composes for mostly films. He's more of my mentor now rather than a boss." Jesse responds

"Very cool. Where did you go to school?"

"Barden University" replies Jesse in a clipped tone. Many memories of the Trebles, Bellas, and Beca come floating back into his mind.

"Seems like I've hit a sore point" Zoe jokes

"Something like that" Jesse grimaces.

As they continue into the night, Jesse finds that Zoe is a great girl. Jesse learns many things about her and finds that he actually enjoys her company, unlike the other girls that Donald had tried to set him up. But there isn't that spark. He had only ever found that with Beca. Zoe notices the lack of chemistry between them too.

"I hate to be rude, but I don't think this is really working out romantically for either of us" Zoe points out, "I just feel like your heart is set elsewhere, and if we're being completely honest, I just don't feel a spark between the two of us. I would be more than happy just to be friends, because you seem like such a great guy."

"Oh" Jesse responds like a true gentlemen, "If we're still being completely honest, I never wanted to go on this date. I…" He pauses, thinking about whether or not her should bring up his ex into the conversation.

"Tell me about her." Zoe prods.

"What?" Jesse says, panicking slightly at her words.

"Tell me about the girl who you're obviously not over"

Hesitating slightly, Jesse replies, "Her name's Beca, Beca Mitchell"

With those words, Jesse tells the story of his romance with the Beca Mitchell. Zoe learns about acapella (she laughed), their moviecations ('it's a good cause!'), the radio station ('Luke sounds like an asshole'), and his persistence in winning over her heart ('what a hero'). She learns everything about their relationship from friends to lovers ('please don't say lovers') and their relationship as coworkers and rivals. All the while, Jesse waits for the dreaded question.

"Why'd you break up?"

"I don't know"

* * *

><p><strong>July 7, 2015: Los Angeles<strong>

Beca sighs as she looks at the cracked screen of her phone. She wants so badly to call him and tell him that she would be flying to New York. She can't, she has a dream to follow. Right now, she's almost broke, working as a waitress during the day and a radio show host/DJ at night. It barely pays rent, but she still works with her music, and that was what mattered.

Picking herself off the floor of her tiny one bedroom apartment, she thinks about Jesse. God, it had been hard to leave him on graduation only a month ago. It had been such a short period of time since she last saw him, but the distance between the two of them grew to be monumental. She isn't even really sure on their relationship status. He had told her to follow her dreams, and she had returned the sentiment, neither of them addressing what would happen to them as a couple. Sure, they texted and called each other, but something just seems off every single time they do. Almost every single time they would talk, their conversations were short, one of them being pulled away for other obligations. In Beca's case, she has so many jobs she was juggling that she often had to go to work right then. In Jesse's case, he is always trying to please his employer, or inspiration had struck him right then. I love you's had been exchanged in their phone calls (really only from Jesse), but Beca is feeling less and less stable with their relationship, and more and more sure that they are at the end.

Beca sits down with her mixing equipment and pulls the large headphones over her ears. She leans back in her chair and closes her eyes. One day, she would be that music producer. One day, she would have some sort of stability, without the constant help of her father. One day, she would figure out where she stood with Jesse. One day, she would become the Beca she had always dreamed of being.

* * *

><p>Jesse wants nothing more than to fly to LA and propose to Beca right there and then. But he knows better than that. His girlfriend is flighty, if anything. Walking out of the tiny jewelry store, he holds his purchase in hand: a tiny, yet suitable clean-cut triangular diamond attached to a split band of silver that weaved together. His plan is to gauge her feelings when they see each other around Christmastime, and then decide whether or not to propose. Jesse feels confident that they would make it out of their temporary separation.<p>

Recently Beca had been less than receptive to him in general. This had to have been from the stress of her job and the stress that she put on herself to be the best, Jesse thinks. And Jesse makes a point to let her know that he knows she's stressed. Also, she and Jesse are incredibly busy, making their conversations very, very short. Beca is working several jobs, while trying to network her way into a record label, while Jesse is doing odd composing jobs here and there for small short films, all the while working as an assistant to a composer who he had yet to meet. On top of it all, Jesse wants her to feel like she is loved. He always tells her that he loves her, even though in college she rarely said it and she was uncomfortable with the idea of commitment. He knows that she loves him back too, even if she doesn't say it very often. While they never specified what would happen to them as a couple when they left each other, Jesse thinks that his intentions were clear to Beca: _You are it for me_. Jesse is certain that the seeming distance between the two of them would be closed as soon as they see each other again. Feeling bright, Jesse mounts the subway and rides to his apartment, completely oblivious to the warning signs that Beca had been sending to him ever since graduation.

* * *

><p>"Chloe, I'm being serious" Beca pouts at the redhead across the table. They are at a coffee shop that Chloe had taken to, claiming that it was "cute and local", whatever that was supposed to mean. Chloe had moved to LA around the same time that Beca did, seeing the Barden Bellas she had mentored all the way through their college years. Technically speaking, she finished grad school. Chloe moved to LA to pursue her goals as a teacher and frequently checks up on Beca.<p>

"Come on Beca, why are you thinking of breaking up with Jesse?" Chloe questions, "You two have made it through so much!"

"Exactly, at what point will we break? We barely talk to each other, I see him on Skype maybe once a week, and in the whole month that we've been apart, we still haven't defined what's happened to our relationship!" Beca rants rather loudly, disrupting the calm of the coffee shop.

"But you've never needed to, you're Beca and Jesse! The power couple of acapella!" Chloe exclaims (Beca groans at the power couple comment). Chloe adds warily, "Besides, I thought you didn't need commitment"

"I need it now" Beca says, easing out of anger and more into sadness, "He deserves someone who can give him that commitment, and I'm not sure if he'll wait forever for me"

Chloe's gaze softens, "He'll wait forever if that's what it takes"

"But I'm not sure I can give him that forever" Beca claims, finally revealing her true fears for their relationship.

* * *

><p><em>"Jesse, we need to talk" <em>

"OK Becs" Jesse replies warily, "What about?"

_"I think we should break up_" Jesse heart almost stops.

"What?" Jesse whispers the only word he could manage before breaking out into tears

_"The long-distance thing really isn't working out for us"_ Jesse feels like he is going to vomit. _"I'm so sorry Jess"_

"But Becs-"

_"Goodbye Jesse, I hope you find someone who can make you truly happy"_

Jesse needs a drink, or three.

* * *

><p>Beca barely makes it through that phone conversation without bursting into tears. She thinks it was only fair to Jesse, so that he could find someone who truly deserved him. Slumping down and clutching the phone to her chest, Beca whispers, "I love you" at Jesse, who isn't on the phone anymore.<p>

* * *

><p>Jesse waves the bartender down for one last drink. He thinks about what he's going to do with his life now that the most important person in his life has left him.<p>

"Dude, there you are" Donald exclaims, dragging Jesse towards the door of the bar

"Wh-aat are you doin-"

"Chloe called. She told us about what happened" Benji explains, sliding Jesse out the door.

"I donnnn't care, I'm fiiii-nnneee" Jesse hiccups

"We're getting you home." Benji says calmly, pulling Jesse into a cab. "It'll be alright"

* * *

><p><strong>January 15, 2016<strong>

"So she just dumped you? No warning?" Zoe exclaims, appalled at the idea.

"I guess there were some signs, but I just loved her- still love her-so much that I was ignoring them." Jesse sighs; he really doesn't want to relive the breakup.

"I'm sorry Jesse, that sucks" Zoe says softly, "I'll tell you something about myself since you've put yourself out there." She takes a deep breath before saying, "I'm honestly not that into guys." Zoe chuckles at Jesse's shocked face, "I mean, sometimes I am attracted to them, but girls have always done it more for me than guys. The only reason I'm on this date was because I haven't exactly told people."

"I hope that one day you'll find the courage you need." Jesse says kindly to her.

"I hope that one day you'll find someone who you love more than her." Zoe comforts Jesse, "Or I hope you find her again"

"I hope so too" Jesse replies, not being clear on what he really wished for. Looking up again Jesse says, "Well that was a surprisingly nice dinner. Thank you for being so understanding."

"Here's my number, call me if Donald is being less than understanding and you just need a friend," Zoe slips a piece of paper towards Jesse, "I guess I'll see you around." She waves at him as she walks out the door.

* * *

><p>When Jesse arrives back at his apartment, he wants to forget about the breakup after so delightfully (not) reliving it for his date. So he opens a beer. And another. And another. Not before long, Jesse is piss drunk and he's dialing a familiar number. It keeps ringing until it hits voicemail.<p>

"Hey Becs!" He drunkenly slurs into his phone, "I love you."

* * *

><p>Beca looks down at her phone. It's a message from Jesse's number. She knows that she will regret listening to it. Every single time she had previously listened to his drunken ramblings, she's ended up in full on tears, because of his sweetness. She opens it anyways<p>

"Hey Becs!" Drunken Jesse laughs, "I love you. Annnndd I missss youuu. That's right, YOU!" He practically shouts. "I want you back. I want you in New York wiff me… or, or, or! I could move to LA to be wiffff youuuuuuu! God Becs! What happened? I don- hic- even knoww. Love you Becs, alwayzzz will" Drunken Jesse hits the dial tone.

In her head, Beca asks the same question. _What happened?_

* * *

><p><strong>January 16, 2016<strong>

Jesse walks into his apartment after work and just wants to sleep. He hasn't done his own composition ever since becoming the mentee of Liam Rickards. He mostly just looks over Liam's work and gives his opinion. He thinks it's partially because he hasn't went out of his way to find small jobs to do. Deep down he knows it's because he hasn't had any inspiration since he and Beca ended things. He scoffs, breakups should be perfect inspiration for composing. No matter, he has a job with decent pay doing what he's always dreamed of doing.

Jesse stalks around his new apartment that he recently moved into after getting what he thinks is a promotion, but he's not really sure. There's not really a hierarchy at his place of work. Liam picks and chooses who he meets and works with. There's been talk that Liam might start a company of composers and he's looking for a partner, but Jesse's not really one to say anything about his place of work. For the first two months working for Rickards, he hadn't even met the guy. Now Jesse works like his personal assistant as Rickards tries to give him some half assed advice. Jesse doesn't really feel like he's getting much from his job with Liam. This is supposed to be Jesse's dream job. It doesn't currently feel like it.

He looks around his apartment, traces – no, clear evidence - of Beca still present. Pictures of them together sit on every flat surface of the apartment; one of her Bellas scarves is tied to the neck of his guitar. If he looks down at his phone and scrolls through his music, he can find every single one of her mixes still on his phone. In his collection of DVDs is marked whether or not Beca liked the movie, while The Breakfast Club sits on its own shelf as their movie with a copy of every ICCA performance and riff-off captured on camera. When he moved into this new apartment, Jesse set up all her leftover toiletries in his bathroom and put away her old clothing and knick-knacks that she had left with him. It's pathetic. He even bought her shampoo, and when he's feeling particularly sentimental of their relationship he uses it. Jesse knows that he really should be trying to get rid of her stuff, by throwing out the toiletries and sending her some of her stuff, and try and move on, but every time he tries to, he ends up in a deeper hole of reminiscence and heartache of their relationship.

Loosening his tie, Jesse sets his laptop bag down on his desk. He changes into his more comfortable long sleeved crew neck shirt and simple jeans. He dreads the call he will surely be getting from Donald today asking him about his date.

Right on cue, his phone rings. It's Donald. Jesse picks up the phone.

"Care to join me, Benji, Cynthia Rose, and Stacie at the bar?"

"What for?" Jesse sighs, not really in the mood to go out. He really just wants to pop The Breakfast Club into his DVD player and watch it with some popcorn.

"Benji has some big news," Donald explains, "You really should check your Facebook more often dude."

"Okay, I'll be there in, like, 20 minutes," Jesse concedes.

* * *

><p>"Jesse, over here!" Stacie calls when Jesse walks into the familiar Brooklyn bar. Jesse waves at his college friends. Many of their acapella crew ended up either in New York or in Southern California. Stacie got into medical school at NYU, Cynthia Rose and Donald are working on a hip hop album, and Benji is a freelance actor in the area, doing magic shows for some extra money. As Jesse walks over to his friends, he hears part of their conversation. Stacie is trying to figure out a way to make some money to pay off student loans.<p>

"I mean, I considered auditioning for the Rockettes" she claims, as Jesse recalls her extensive dance training, "I think I would've made it, but I asked one of my friends who dances with them about the rehearsal and performance schedule, and like, it's really intense. I don't think I could do school and the Rockettes."

"Oh hey Jesse!" Benji says happily, "Now that we're all here, I have some important news!"

"Spit it out Benji," Donald says jokingly, "You've can't stop talking about it"

"I got a part in the chorus of On the Town!" Benji exclaims. Congratulations are exchanged between Benji and his friends, and as Jesse hugs Benji, Jesse says,

"Congrats, I knew you could do it." The friends all clamor with excitement and Benji talks about getting free tickets for all of them.

"So Jesse, I hear you went on a date yesterday," Cynthia Rose prods, "How was it?"

"It was fine." Jesse says shortly. Seeing that his friends want a little more information, he continues, "She was great and incredibly sweet, but I didn't feel it… And she's not really into relationships." Murmurs between Stacie and Cynthia Rose are exchanged. They knew that Beca was the cause of his 'not feeling it' and if the knowledge about Beca's life in Los Angeles was anything, Beca hadn't been 'feeling it' with anyone either.

"Come on Jesse, this is the fifth girl who you haven't felt 'it' with, and that's total bullshit. When are you going to get over Beca?" Donald finally says out of exasperation.

"Shit" Jesse thinks he hears Stacie whisper. Jesse freezes and then looks down at his beer. On the outside, he looks fine, but inside Jesse knows that he won't ever be the same without Beca in his life. He looks up again at his friends. He sees the sympathetic from Benji and the looks exchanged between the former Bellas, who clearly know something that's happening with Beca that the Trebles don't known. Jesse's gaze finally settles on Donald, who's giving him an almost challenging look. Donald's stare cools.

"Dude, you haven't been the same since she dumped you, and I know it's been hard. But at some point you have to accept it with a grain of salt and know that there was probably a good reason for it to happen," Donald explains, as the Bellas shoot each other another look, "You haven't composed anything in six months, right? I think you need to use this breakup and actually get something out of it. Write a love theme, an angry theme, a sad theme, or any theme! Put yourself out there, show that bastard Rickards what you can do!"

* * *

><p>When he arrives at his apartment, Jesse takes his friends advice. He dusts off the upright piano that was a graduation gift from his parents and pours all of his energies into writing his feelings out. He expresses all of his anger, sadness, fear, and hope into a piece he titles, "Inevitable"<p>

It becomes a huge hit with Liam Rickards.

* * *

><p><strong>September 21, 2015<strong>

Beca stares at her boss, Ryan Fordham, in shock. After a month of living broke with about two furniture items in her apartment, her bed and a table, Beca got hired to work at stopRecord as a temp. She was able to stop funneling money from her dad, who finally understood what she wanted to do, and quit her job at the restaurant. stopRecord was a small record label that focused on any and all smaller artists that needed a boost. She had been hoping that she would get a permanent job there as a producer.

"You mean, I get a permanent job?" she whispers in awe

"Yes Beca, stopRecord needs you as a producer," Ryan claims, "Congratulations young lady, here's your new contract that we need you to sign. You're also welcome to come to the party we're hosting with some other small independent labels at the end of the week, bring a friend." He winks at her.

Beca can't contain her excitement as she leaves his office, letting out an uncharacteristic squeal. This is the first time she's really smiled since she and Jesse broke up.

* * *

><p><strong>September 25, 2015<strong>

"Chlo, come on, you look fine!" Beca claims, exasperated with the redhead, "I need to go to this party, Ryan says that there's a band coming that he wants me to produce for!"

"Okay, jeez, Becs, this is the most energy you've had since…" Chloe's voice falters, "Well, you know" Beca's smile slips off her face for a moment. Just then Chloe steps into view in a full-length evening gown.

"Well, Chlo, I don't really know why you're dressed up in a nice dress because it's a casual party," Beca explains. Chloe punches her arm,

"Five minutes, I'll be ready"

25 minutes later, Beca and Chloe walk into the home of the owner of stopRecord, Ryan Fordham. Beca is wearing black jeans and a leather jacket over a simple dark purple tank top. Her black leather combat boots are worn to the sole, while her hair is pulled up into a messy braided bun, the ear spike still in. Chloe, wearing a pink short sleeve sundress with her red curls dangling loosely down her back, follows Beca in. Ryan comes up to greet Beca.

"It's so good to see you here," The older man exclaims, pulling her into a hug. "I'd like you to meet my son, Tom Fordham, he's recently moved to LA to work with me. I thought that I'd introduce you two, since you are the only two around the same age at stopRecord." Ryan claims, dragging a tall blond man into the conversation. Immediately Chloe looks the blond up and down, and mouths to Beca 'he's super cute'. "And who did you bring with you?" Ryan directs at Chloe.

"Oh, this is my friend Chloe, she works as an elementary school teacher. She went to Barden with me." Beca explains

"Well, Beca, there is one more set of people I'd like you to meet, you're going to be their producer." Turning to his son, Ryan asks, "Will you be okay by yourself?"

"Dad, I'm 26, I'll be fine." Eyeing Chloe, Tom adds, "Besides, I've got nice company" Shaking his head, Ryan leads Beca towards two men.

"Beca, I'd like you to meet Oli Chang and Jack Milas of the band, High Highs. Guys, this is your new producer Beca Mitchell." Greetings are exchanged between the three of them as they talk about music and what inspired them. Beca's excitement fills the room. She's finally getting her big chance to become a great producer; she's finally achieving her dream. Yet, something in her gut tells her that she's missing something.

* * *

><p><strong>August 18, 2015<strong>

"Jesse Swanson," a dark ominous voice calls. Jesse turns around to find Liam Rickards, his "boss" looking down at him.

"Liam Rickards, pleasure to finally meet you sir," Jesse stammers, as he sticks out his hand.

"Eh, cut the crap kid," Rickards says, "I finally listened to your entire demo. When I hired you, I liked your style, but I had only heard a little. Now that I've heard more, I'd like to personally invite you to work as my assistant." Jesse stares at him, dumbfounded, "I know what you're thinking, assistant? Yes, assistant. While you work for me, you get to work with me, learning a little more about the trade. You have a lot of potential, and I'd like to help. Plus, being my personal assistant has better pay than being assistant to one of these douches," Liam gestures to the general office space, crammed with stressed out composers, "You can start with me next Monday. You'll go far with me, I can guarantee it." Jesse stares shell-shocked at Liam Rickards.

"Th-thank you sir." Jesse manages.

"Call me Liam, none of this 'sir' crap." Liam grumbles, "See you Monday, my office, 9 am sharp." Jesse nods his head.

He feels a little lighter knowing that moving to New York has gotten him somewhere. He smiles briefly and thinks about how Beca had always wanted him to follow his dream.

* * *

><p><strong>January 2, 2016<strong>

The Bellas in Southern California, Beca, Chloe, Aubrey, and Fat Amy, gather around a table at a small café. Chloe works at an elementary school in LA, Aubrey lives in Santa Monica as a businesswoman, and Fat Amy works in LA as a zookeeper and part time DJ. They try and meet together at least once a month for a Bella brunch. They usually all bring their laptops to Skype in some of the other Bellas. This time they get Cynthia Rose and Stacie from New York on Beca's laptop, Lilly in Seattle on Chloe's laptop, and Ashley in Georgia on Aubrey's laptop. Denise and Jessica are apparently busy at the time. Aubrey starts the conversation,

"So Beca, I hear that you're almost done producing your first album!" Aubrey exclaims.

"Um, yeah? I just finished the editing process. The release is going to be probably the 18th of this month." Beca explains.

"Ya know, that's great flat butt," Amy comments, "But do you have any new man candy in your life?"

"AMY!" Aubrey and Chloe scold her.

"What? Just curious, you know you haven't really, well-" Amy inconspicuously thrusts her hips under the table, "You know, since you ended things with Jesse." Beca stares at her meal and tries to come up with a response.

"WELL, you know what else we could talk about?" Chloe asks not-so-subtly, "How's medical school Stacie? How's the city? You can answer too Cynthia Rose" Chloe adds, almost aggressively. Amy lets out a 'sorry, didn't realize it was still a no-no subject'

"Medical school is fine. I'm not really sleeping much, too much studying," Stacie explains. Winking, she adds, "And hot guys."

"The city is great." Cynthia Rose comments, "Becs, could you take a listen to the demo that Donald and I finished?"

"Yeah sure." Beca replies.

"I break records and play them on a record player to hear the screeching of my ancestors." Lilly whispers. The Bellas don't even flinch anymore. "Donald said that it sounds great," She adds.

"Hey Beca, how's Tom Fordham?" Ashley asks, "I hear he's pretty hot"

"He's fine, ask Red, she knows more about him than I do" Beca sips her coffee and jerks a thumb towards Chloe. Chloe's face turns almost as red as her hair.

"Beca!" Chloe squeals.

"Oi! Little Red is getting it on with Beca's boss's son?"

"Amy!" Aubrey exclaims, "Really? We're talking about it here?"

"Just curious" Amy replies, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Okay ladies, does anyone have any major life changes to discuss that aren't inappropriate to talk about in a nice café?" The Bellas groan at Aubrey's comment. Beca finally gives in,

"I was thinking about moving to a nicer apartment at the end of the month," Beca says, "I mean, I have the money now that I got the job. I think it would be nice to live in an apartment where I have real furniture."

"That's great, Beca." Chloe says calmly, "It'll be a good change. A fresh start since – oops!" Her hands fly over her mouth.

"It's fine Chloe," Beca mutters at her coffee, suddenly very interested in the color, "I guess it wasn't meant to be."

All of the Bellas exchange looks at Beca's comment.

* * *

><p><strong>January 18, 2016<strong>

"Hey Jesse, it's Chloe. Just wanted to give you a little update on life here in LA. Beca's not doing well. I think she misses you. Please don't give up trying to win her back. You two are perfect for each other!" Chloe's bubbly voice rings out on his answering machine. He just stares at it. "Also, quick thing, the High Highs' new album comes out today and it's Beca's first producing credit. Thought you should know. Best of luck in New York! And seriously, don't give up on her."

Jesse puts his head and his hands, and runs his hands through his hair. He paces around his apartment. He feels angry and mad; Beca can't feel that way about him, she broke up with him. But Jesse feels hopeful too. He's not the only one hung up on this break up. He picks up the slip of paper he's held in his wallet since two days previous.

"Hey Zoe, it's Jesse. Can we go out to dinner? Just to talk, of course."

* * *

><p>"So her friend called you to tell you that she's doing shitty? And then to give you a career update?" Zoe asks, confused by Jesse's relationship with his ex-girlfriend. Jesse nods.<p>

"I mean, Beca has no right to feel that way, she broke up with me!" Jesse's hand smacks the coffee table in Zoe's apartment. Zoe reaches out to calm him down.

"Okay, from the dumpee standpoint, I understand that it's hard to accept it," Zoe says carefully, "But you have to understand that Beca might have broken up with you because she thought it was what you both wanted. From the very little I know about Beca, she seems like the kind of person who runs away from daunting emotional situations, and the long-distance relationship might not have been working for her. Yes, your heart was ripped to shreds, but you have to understand, Jesse, that she probably smashed part of her heart in the process. I think that you should take Chloe's advice, wait a little while, wait for the timing to be right, I don't know, but if you really think that Beca is the one for you, it will happen." Jesse stares shocked at Zoe's advice.

"Thanks," Jesse replies. He feels like he finally understands the advice that all of his friends have given him. This breakup is only just an obstacle, but he needs to move away from it. If something is meant to be, it will happen. Obviously, he's still hurting, and he's still a little pissed, but he sees more hope now. "Say, do you want to be my Valentine's date, so we don't have to be harassed by our friends?"

"I would love to."

* * *

><p><strong>February 14, 2016<strong>

Beca pulls up to her new apartment and sighs. She feels successful for the first time since moving to LA. While she got off to a rough start (breaking up with Jesse), Beca thinks that everything is starting to work itself out again. She will achieve her dreams.

Tom and Chloe had offered to help Beca move into her new apartment, but Beca wants to do it by herself. As much as she needed to learn to trust others, it had been a while since she had done anything without the Bellas, her father, or Jesse (god she still loves him). Pulling the key out of her pocket, Beca walks to the back of the moving van. Luckily, since she had been so broke, Beca had very little to transport to her new house. The first thing she does is pull out all two of her furniture items, a beaten desk and a bedframe. She pulls the desk into the elevator, while watching the moving van (well, tries). A tall, lean, man with dark blond curls topping his head notices her.

"Can I help you?" He's impeccably dressed, in a nice button down cardigan combo and dark jeans. A tattoo peaks out of the sleeve of his cardigan on his forearm.

"No, I've got it." Beca replies. Then she rethinks it, "Actually yes, I'm moving in and if you could just watch the van for me while I get my stuff into my apartment that would be great."

"I will do that." He laughs and says, "How can you be so sure to trust a complete stranger?"

"I have good instincts." Beca fires back, "Be a darling and wait there"

An hour later Beca has moved all of her belongings into her apartment with a lot of sweat (a lot, a lot) and banter (with the blond stranger). She figures that she can unpack all of her boxes later and goes down to thank the man.

"Hey, thanks for all the help." Beca says.

"No problem," he flashes his teeth, "Nothing like helping damsels in distress. Can I interest you in going out for a drink with me?"

"Sorry, but I can't. I promised some of my college buddies that I'd come hang out with them as soon as I finished getting all my stuff in my apartment." Beca says as she tries to come up with an excuse to not go out with him

"Are you sure? I mean, the offer still stands for another day." The man writes something on a slip of paper, "My name's Ian, here's my number. Feel free to call me at anytime."

"Thanks for your help Ian, I'm Beca." She replies to be polite, "I guess I'll see you around then. Later"

"Later Beca"

* * *

><p>"So this is your apartment." Zoe comments, looking at all the pictures and personal items. "Love the movie collection. I see you hold The Breakfast Club to a completely different standard than the rest of your movies."<p>

"Yeah, that was kind of our movie," Jesse explains, referencing Beca. Since last talking to Zoe, Jesse had cleaned up a little of his 'Beca' stuff. He threw away her old toiletries (because ew), but kept her brand of shampoo in his shower, he collected all of her personal items (except the Bellas scarf) and stored them safely in a box. The pictures and music still stay the same in Jesse's life. He knows he won't forget about Beca, so why try and get rid of her completely?

"I'm guessing this tiny brunette is Beca." Zoe asks, approaching Jesse.

"Yeah, you should be glad that you're here otherwise I'd be making drunken calls to her." Jesse jokes. Zoe shoots him a look of shock. "Yeah, after waking up with a hangover, I'll check my phone and see that I've called her. I can only hope that I didn't do anything dumb over the phone."

"Oh Jess, she really has you good, doesn't she?" Zoe asks sympathetically.

"Yeah." Jesse sighs, "Let's go out to our Valentine's Day party. Don't want to anger Donald." Jesse says, moving on from the subject of Beca.

"Wait, before we leave, I have a small gift for you." Zoe reaches into her purse and pulls out a CD, "I know that you've been getting better with the Beca stuff, but I thought that the CD with her first producer credit might inspire you a little bit.

"Thanks Zoe," Jesse says honestly, "I appreciate it."

And Jesse really does. He appreciates Zoe for not trying to push him off Beca, like his college friends, he appreciates Zoe for actually listening to his problems, he appreciates Zoe for trying to be understanding, he appreciates Zoe for being his first non-college friend, he appreciates Zoe for actually putting up with his shit.

* * *

><p><strong>January 30, 2017<strong>

Beca walks into her apartment to be bombarded by Chloe.

"I'M GETTING MARRIED, ACABITCH" shouts a hyperactive Chloe, jumping up and down on her couch. She's holding out her left hand to show off her ring to Beca. Beca is taken aback by the redhead's excitement

"Um, Congrats." Beca says weakly, "Now tell me how the fuck you got into my apartment."

"That blond guy let me in," Chloe says, "I rang on your doorbell, and that cutie opened the door. I'm proud of you Becs, tapping that must have been no easy feat." Beca stands there looking horrified at the blond.

"Oh god, I forgot about Ian."

As soon as Chloe leaves her apartment, Beca calls for Ian.

"IAN, GET YOUR ASS OUT OF MY BED AND EXPLAIN TO ME WHY YOU THOUGHT IT WAS OKAY TO LET SOMEONE YOU DIDN'T KNOW INTO MY APARTMENT!" Beca yells. At that moment Beca's phone chimes with texts from every single Bella. Stacie's 'get it girl' is evened out by Aubrey's 'are you using protection?' and complimented by Amy's, 'it's about fuckin' time'. Beca groans loudly. She 'forgot' to tell the Bellas about her new boyfriend.

After Valentine's Day the previous year, Beca decided that it was time to get back out into the dating game. So naturally, she called Ian, the hot stranger who had helped her move in. Beca and Ian had hooked up several times, usually after the release of a new album. Every single time they hooked up, Ian would ask if they were going to go on a date eventually, Beca had always replied no. Up until a month ago.

"Becs, I let her in because you talk about Chloe all the time. I've seen pictures, I know what she looks like." Ian replies, "Besides I knew it was the quickest way to tell your friends that we're dating." He adds with a mischievous grin, as he pulls Beca into a hug.

"Ugh, you're literally the worst." Beca responds with a cheeky grin. Her relationship with Ian was great. Fun. Exciting. Relaxing. It's almost as great as her relationship with Jesse, his picture still in a frame next to her bed. Neither Ian nor Beca had acknowledged the obvious picture of her ex-boyfriend just sitting in her apartment. And that was fine for the both of them.

* * *

><p><strong>April 7, 2017<strong>

In the past year or so since Beca's first album came out, Jesse had developed a habit for always checking to see if she had produced another artist's work. He has a complete set of Beca's work on his computer and in CD form. He even has the singles and EPs of local artists that Beca had helped who nobody had heard of. His shelf that holds The Breakfast Club now holds the physical copies of Beca's work.

Jesse had also developed a good relationship with Liam Rickards. Jesse isn't composing as much as he would like, but whenever he finishes a piece, Liam is more than happy to critique and give advice to Jesse. Like now, when Jesse's finished composing the theme for a short Pixar film.

"Jesse, this is good, stop beating yourself up, kid," Liam says, "They hired you for a reason."

"I don't know, I just feel like-" Jesse stops his thought as Liam opens his mouth.

"Here's what I think, kid. Add a lighter, more fun percussive beat here, and cut down the strings. It'll be more Pixar." Liam says sarcastically (with jazz hands).

"Okay," Jesse replies, "What if I repeat the theme here," he points at the top of the second page, "but in the lower octave?"

"That's a good idea." Liam says, "Also, you're now my new partner at the Rickards Composing Firm, congrats." He subtly slips into the conversation.

"Yeah, and how about- Wait, what?" Jesse says, dumbfounded.

"You got a promotion." Rickards says, "Relax, enjoy the extra money."

"Th-thank you" Jesse stammers, before adding in his own dorky way, "I won't let you down."

"Take the rest of the day off, you've earned it kid."

* * *

><p><strong>June 19, 2017<strong>

"Beca, can I see you in my office?" Ryan Fordham asks

"Um, sure, can it wait like 10 minutes? I've got a band on the phone."

"Take your time, it's not terribly urgent."

Beca quickly finishes her conversation with the band on the other line. Fucking douchebags, they all think that they're the next big thing. Fucking Ian, attracting all the douchebag bands to stopRecord. Just because they're dating, doesn't mean that he can invite all of his douchey friends to call stopRecord and ask for Beca. She is going to have a talk with Ian when she gets off of work. Stalking into Ryan's office, she asks in a clipped tone,

"Is this about the wedding? You know, between your son and my best friend?"

"No Beca, I'd like for you to sit down." Beca warily pulls out a chair, and sits down. "Recently I've been corresponding with a company that composes scores for films." Beca shakes her head,

"It seems you've forgotten that I'd rather visit a gynecologist than watch movies."

"Right, Tom told me about that." Ryan states as if remembering a distant memory, "Don't you have a tolerance for The Breakfast Club? Tom says that's the only movie in your apartment." Beca's eyes cast down, "No worries, they want to do something where the composers at their firm work together with a producer at stopRecord. However, we're not entirely sure how this would work. It wouldn't be an all the time thing, but occasionally we might ask a composer and a producer to work together. Now you're probably wondering where you come in. I want you to head the producers for this project. You will work with the head composer on the other team for a trial basis." Beca looks at Ryan Fordham in shock, "I want to promote you to executive producer." Beca's mouth falls open. "You'll still be able to work with your music, but I need someone strong and commanding in charge of this project. I've decided that you're the person for this job."

"Thank you so much." Beca replies, jaw still hinged open, "I won't let you down." And as a second thought, "Hey Fordham, what composing company are we working with?"

"Liam Rickards Firm"

* * *

><p>"So what you're telling me is you want me to move to LA, give up my life in New York, and start working with another company on a trial basis because I'm your business partner?" Jesse questions.<p>

"Yup." Liam pops the –p, "One of the reasons I started to work so closely with you was to see if you were cut out for this job. Look kid, I know it's scary to leave everything you know, but you've got this. I'll throw in a little pay bonus. Plus, that money you make will go a little farther in LA than in New York." Jesse looks down at his hands, and thinks about what it would mean to leave New York. It would mean he would leave Zoe, Donald, Benji, hell he would even be leaving Cynthia Rose and Stacie, but he could always call them with his nifty phone. It would mean leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the big city. It would mean leaving the street vendor food, and the cold New York winters, and the lights that never died. But it wouldn't be the worst situation to make a little more money, and have a little change of pace in his life. In fact, it might be nice to leave New York for a little while.

"Okay, I'll do it." Jesse concedes. "When do I move?"

"Great! You leave in a month." Rickards responds with the smug smile, "Better tell your girl that you're moving to LA." He says, gesturing to the picture of Beca Jesse has tacked to his desk.

"Oh, that's not my girlfriend. She's my ex." Jesse replies.

"Jesus, you've had that picture on your desk since I met you, when d'you break up?" Liam prods.

"Um, July 2015." Jesse mumbles

"Well, kid, this is the perfect opportunity to finally get over her then. Jeez, it's been two years!" Liam exclaims

"Here's the thing," Jesse explains, "She lives in LA."

* * *

><p><strong>June 23, 2017<strong>

"So you're really moving to LA?" Benji questions Jesse, staring incredulously at him. "You know that Beca still lives there, right?"

"Benji, this would really help my career." Jesse explains, "Besides, with the amount of friends we share I was bound to see her at some point. I think I can face her now." Jesse adds unconvincingly, as he stares at his beer.

"Well I think it's time for a change." Zoe says, coming to Jesse's defense. Jesse had invited Zoe, Benji, Donald, Stacie, and Cynthia Rose over to the bar they frequented to tell them the news. To their collective horror and delight, they found out that Jesse and Beca would be living in the same city again. Zoe and Stacie are extremely excited, but nervous. Stacie quickly texts Chloe who she knows will update the SoCal Bellas. Cynthia Rose and Benji are hesitant about Jesse's move, trying to be supportive, while Donald is adamant that Jesse moving to LA is a poor decision. Donald is very aware of what happened to Jesse after Beca dumped him, and is concerned for Jesse if things don't go well this time.

"You know, this is one of the last time's we'll all be hanging out in the city." Jesse says, reminiscing on the two year's he's spent in New York. Sure, he had a lot of hell, living on a tiny salary and all, but he's going to miss the big city. After all, he did make some major changes and get some great news in New York.

He and his friends continue on into the night, pretending that nothing is changing, but the atmosphere is different. At the end of the night they all say a private goodbye to Jesse. First Cynthia Rose comes up to Jesse.

"Yo Jess, be careful in LA. But also enjoy yourself. There's a lot you can do out there. Remember that you'll be surrounded by so many movie makers and music makers, and everyone is so talented, but you've got this." Cynthia Rose reaches out to give him a hug, giving him on last piece of advice, "Don't get to caught up on Beca, what happens, happens, okay? I'm sure we'll talk when you get to LA. Good luck, Treble." She waves at him as she leaves the bar. Next Stacie comes bouncing up to him.

"You've been a great friend, Jesse. I remember when I met you, I thought you were hot and I was totally down to do you," Jesse blushes, "but you were totally Beca's by then. Anyways, have fun in LA. Don't forget about us New Yorkers. Also, don't be afraid to go after Beca. She still misses you. Good luck!" Jesse gives Stacie a hug before she stalks away, earning Jesse several envious looks from other males in the bar. Benji approaches Jesse cautiously.

"Hey former roomie," he greets nervously, "I just want you to know that I'm incredibly proud of you. You're getting your dreams, and I hope this turns out well for you. I mean I think it will." Benji laughs nervously, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, you're incredibly talented and you deserve to find someone who loves you, whether you and Beca find each other again or not. Anyways… I'll miss you when you're in LA."

"Thanks Benji," Jesse replies, "Do you realize this is the first time we'll be living in different cities in five years?"

"I guess you're right." Benji replies, counting the years on his fingers, "I guess I'll see you sometime." He pulls Jesse into a hug, "Promise you'll see me on Broadway?"

"I promise Benji. I'll miss you too." Jesse waves at Benji as he heads out the door. Donald stalks up next. Donald has some different advice for Jesse.

"Swanson, what the fuck?" Donald pushes Jesse's arm playfully, "Why are you leaving? And moving to LA?"

"You know a good luck would be nice." Jesse quips.

"Dude, I know that you'll do fine career wise in LA, but I need to tell you, don't try and find Beca. I know it's tempting, but just think about the last time you spoke to her, and how much of a mess you were. Seriously, have fun in LA, but don't do anything stupid." Jesse and Donald exchange a quick hug, "See you later, dude." Donald calls one last time. Zoe comes up and pulls Jesse into a hug right off the bat.

"She lives in LA, right?" Zoe asks. Jesse nods his head. "Okay, so here's the deal, I don't want you to get hurt, but I also want you to be happy. If you think that Beca will make you happy, go for it. But also remember the time. It's not like you saw her just yesterday and you're just absorbing her back into your life. It'll take some time." Jesse nods again, "Have fun in LA, I know that you can make it, and your music will be stellar. Just remember to be careful, and if it's meant to be, it will happen." She pulls him into another hug, "You've been such a great friend for the past year and a half."

"You too, Zoe, you've been amazing." Jesse says back. "I'll miss you when I'm in LA. Thank you for being so understanding." Zoe releases Jesse from their embrace and waves back at him,

"Call me some time, 'kay?" Jesse nods again in agreement.

Jesse knows that LA will be a change, and he knows that it'll be challenging to get into a groove again, but he knows that LA is going to be a change for the good. He just doesn't know why yet.

* * *

><p><strong>July 5, 2017<strong>

After celebrating the Fourth of July with his friends in New York, Jesse boarded a red-eye flight to come to LA. He is going to meet with the owner of the record label, stopRecord, and the producer they wanted to head the project on July 7, the day that Beca dumped him two years previous. And Jesse feels incredibly superstitious. Still, Jesse hops off the plane and confidently goes to the baggage claim area. His current plan is to live in a hotel for a few weeks until he finds an apartment, so his furniture and less necessary items still have yet to be shipped to LA. They're sitting in Benji's apartment until further notice.

He hails a cab after getting his suitcase to take him to his hotel, which Liam had so generously paid for…for a week. Jesse looks out the window most of the cab ride and thinks about what his life in LA will be like. He knows that he'll become friends with at least Chloe, if not the rest of the Bellas while he lives here. He thinks that maybe he and Beca can eventually be on speaking terms again. He believes he wants to get Beca back to him, as best friend and/or lover. But all he can do now is sit in a cab looking out at his new home, finally thinking about himself, not what his friends say, in the whole change and wonder: _what the hell am I doing?_

* * *

><p><strong>July 7, 2017<strong>

Beca pulls up to Sqirl, a high-end breakfast eatery in LA, dressed in a low-cut, form fitting, burgundy t-shirt and high-waisted black jean shorts, her casual yet 'professional' outfit. Her hair is tied up into a messy bun, her thick makeup is apparent on her face, and, as usual, the ear spike remains. She hopes that Ryan is already there so she doesn't have to explain to the hostess that she's there for the reservation for Ryan, but she's not Ryan. She walks towards the door as quickly as possible in her trusty black combat boots, even though outside the LA heat has started to kick in. Beca opens the door to see Ryan Fordham already sitting at the table with a stack of papers. He smiles when he sees her,

"Beca! Are you ready?" Ryan asks with a smile.

"As ready as I'll ever be to be working on movies," she grumbles as Ryan laughs, "Tell me again, why did I agree to this?"

"Money," he states, "and the promotion."

"Right," Beca smiles to herself. "Tell me about who I'm working with." Ryan pulls out a file.

"Says here that he's 24, just like you. Worked for Liam Rickards since graduating college. He wrote the music for a Pixar short film this year." Beca gives an appreciative look; Pixar is kind of a big deal, if she remembers correctly. Ryan continues, "Also wrote the composition 'Inevitable' that's heard in an independent film somewhere." Looking at his watch he adds, "He should be arriving at any moment now."

Just as Ryan says that, a man with slightly wavy brown hair and gorgeous dark eyes walks into the restaurant.

"Jesse Swanson!" Ryan happily calls.

_Shit._

* * *

><p>Jesse is running late for his first meeting with stopRecord. He woke up way too early, still being on East Coast time and then fell back asleep, only to wake up late. He rushed out of the hotel as quickly as possible, dressed in a plaid button down with the sleeves rolled up and his nicest pair of jeans. Even though he was told that this was a relatively informal meeting, he still wants to make a good impression. Jesse almost tells the cab driver to speed for his life, but he decides that that would be rude.<p>

After he arrives at the small restaurant and pays for the cab, Jesse hastily crosses the street to open the door. He sees a man, maybe in his fifties talking to a small brunette girl, her face turned away from him. The man looks his way and smiles at him,

"Jesse Swanson!" the man calls him over, "I'm Ryan Fordham." Ryan offers his hand. Taking his hand, Jesse replies,

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir." The man gestures to the woman across the table from him as she turns to face him,

"This is my producer-"

"Beca Mitchell"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hi again, this is the first real fic writing I've done in a really long time, so any and all feedback is much appreciated. <strong>

**I hope to have the second part of this story written and uploaded by this Sunday, before I get off from break. The second part will cover how Jesse and Beca figure out their relationship as friends and coworkers, and covers about three months of time rather than two years. I'm not really sure how long the chapter will be, since this one turned out a lot longer than I expected, but I think it will hopefully be around the same length.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Reunion (and forever)

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything familiar**

**AN1: Again check the dates while reading**

**Part 2: The Reunion (and forever)**

* * *

><p><strong>October 14, 2017<strong>

Beca sighs as she pulls up to her apartment after work. With the recent addition of the composers, not to mention the fact that the head composer was Jesse, Beca is extraordinarily stressed. But luckily, Ian had offered to take her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant to get her mind off of things. Beca isn't sure if luckily is the right word to use. Recently, Ian had also been adding to her stress. He had been constantly harassing her about hanging out and doing things that normal couples would do, but Beca thinks that it's clear that she's not about relationships and she thinks that it's clear that she's stressed and wants to spend time with her friends more than her kind of boyfriend.

Reluctantly, Beca walks into her apartment to prepare for her "fancy" date with Ian. She takes stock of the mess she's made in her apartment, _is there really anything nice she can wear?_ Movie cases litter her living room area, as movies were becoming something more important since Jesse had returned in her life, and dishes lay in her sink, untouched except for a bowl that usually held popcorn. Beca walks into her bedroom and notices a cute sticky note on a navy blue dress lying on her bed. In Chloe's perfect handwriting it reads, "I know you gave me the key for 'emergency purposes' but I KNEW that you didn't have anything to wear. I stopped by a store this afternoon and picked up something I thought would look good on you. Pair it with a your simple nude pumps!" Beca groans at the message. Of course Chloe, the sweetest, most thoughtful person would. She'd have to pay Chloe back later.

Finally Beca feels like she looks acceptable for a "nice dinner at an expensive restaurant," as Ian so kindly put it. She's dressed in a navy blue, chiffon, high low dress with an illusion neckline, and open back, paired with nude pumps. She's left in the ear spikes, but pinned her curls into a nice bun for the evening. Beca hopes that Ian won't do anything to try and "cement their relationship," as he had been bugging her. Pulling on her leather jacket, she runs to her car, and hopes she won't be late for her date with Ian.

* * *

><p>Jesse sits miserably in his apartment. He knows that he and Beca aren't dating. But it still sucks. Beca had been so excited about something at the beginning of this week, hopefully their moviecation hangouts (oh yeah, that was a thing again), but she had informed him that she was going on a date with her kind of boyfriend, who Jesse met that one time. Jesse was so sure that they weren't doing well (good for him, hopefully anyways), and knew that she had previously used Jesse as an excuse that she couldn't go out with <em>Ian<em>. God, what a boring name.

Jesse wants to call Zoe, but he knows that he's been a terrible friend to her recently, especially after she told him on their last phone call. Yeah, that had gone down rather poorly. Instead, Jesse turns on his phone to play all of her mixes, even the recent ones that he totally ripped off of Chloe, and all of her produced work. Jesse lies down on the couch in his new apartment (that she had helped him move into), and thinks back to how he had finally had her back, and at the same time didn't.

* * *

><p><strong>July 7, 2017<strong>

"Oh, you two already know each other?" Ryan exclaims.

"We went to college together, competed against each other in acapella, you know," Beca adds quickly, shooting Jesse a look, "We spent a lot of time together." Jesse snorts.

"Something like that." He mutters, "Yeah, college felt so long ago."

The breakfast continues on in an awkward, yet polite, conversation. Ryan can tell that his best producer and the composer obviously have a longer history than the college excuse she tried to give earlier that day, but he knows better than to press Beca on something like that. The tension between Beca and Jesse rolls off in waves, and Ryan chuckles, _young people, all so caught up in their own world to realize their relation to others_. Ryan thinks that he's learned enough about Jesse's goals, not to mention enough with the awkwardness from the pair of young people.

"Well, Jesse, I think that we're all ready to go home for the weekend." Ryan breaks the stare between Jesse and Beca, "I'll see you in work on Monday, Beca can I talk to you for a little bit." Jesse waves at Beca and Ryan, and casually exits the restaurant. Beca watches him hail a cab and climb in and away from her, just like at graduation. She snaps back to reality. No use wasting her thoughts over what they were.

"So Beca, care to tell me anything else about your relationship with Jesse?" Ryan prods. Beca groans and gives him the grumpy teenager look. _Do I have to?_ Her eyes say. She gives in.

"He was my boyfriend. Broke up with him a month after I moved here." Beca states, "Do I have to tell you all about our relationship? Or have you pried enough?" Beca seethes. Ryan shakes his head.

"Beca I was only trying to figure out whether or not you two could work together without ripping each other to shreds," Ryan explains, "If you think you can work together, I'll leave you alone."

"I'll be fine." Beca states stonily.

"Take the rest of the day off," Ryan offers, "I'll see you on Monday."

* * *

><p>Jesse cannot be more excited. He thought it might take a couple of phone calls to their acapeople, but he was wrong. It was like fate wanted them to be together, or at least that's what Jesse tells himself. He immediately calls Zoe.<p>

"ZOE!" He shouts with much enthusiasm.

"JESSE!" She shouts back, "How's LA?"

"You'll never guess what happened to me today," Jesse starts excitedly, "You know the record label that Liam has me working with? The producer is Beca."

"Wow." Zoe replies, completely stunned at his luck, "That's great Jess," She says earnestly.

She and Jesse talk for another hour about LA and New York, what Jesse plans on doing with his apartment situation, and just life in general before Zoe has to do something else.

"Listen Jess, it was great talking to you, and I'm totally happy that you've already found Beca," Zoe starts, "But be careful, don't get overly excited, because I can feel your excitement from here." Jesse rolls his eyes, "Don't get too down if things don't go your way. AND try not to harass her too much. I know that you've been waiting to see her again for two years, but she might feel differently. Anyways I have to go, I have a date. Good luck over there!"

"Good luck with your date!" Jesse replies. He thinks about what Zoe's said. _Be careful._ His entire relationship with Beca could be described as careful, yet thrilling. He had always made sure that Beca was feeling comfortable with their relationship in college, but there had always been something so compelling and exciting about their relationship that he had been addicted to (and still is). Jesse is done with careful, he only wants the passionate part of their relationship. But he also knows better than that, he knows that he needs to test the waters before jumping in. Accepting where he stands with Beca, Jesse turns on the television in his hotel room and finds whatever ridiculous TV movie is on to watch. He feels optimistic about their relationship.

* * *

><p>"Red, how the fuck did I not know that Jesse was in LA?" Beca demands of her ginger friend, while standing in front of a mirror in a pretty, strapless, mint blue bridesmaid dress. Chloe inspects the beading on the dress.<p>

"I don't know, Beca, does it really matter? I mean, it's not like you're going to run into him everyday in LA." Chloe tries to comfort her. Chloe knows that Beca isn't completely over her breakup with Jesse, and she probably never will get completely over it. And being completely honest, Chloe thinks that Beca was incredibly stupid when she dumped Jesse, especially since they were both crazy for each other. Chloe hands Beca a different strapless, mint blue dress, this time with a shorter, more flowing skirt.

"That's just it!" Beca groans, "He's the fucking composer that Ryan wants me to work with." Chloe stops her chatter with the seamstress.

"WHAT. THE. FUCK." Chloe screeches. The entire bridal store gives her and Beca the stink eye. Chloe shoots a warning look to Beca to not make the situation worse.

"Yeah, I get to see him. Every. Fucking. Day." Beca states.

"Do you think you'll be able to do it?" Chloe questions as her gaze softens. She knows how hard the breakup was on both parties.

"I mean, I have to." Beca shrugs, "He seems fine, great even." Beca says remembering the way he was cleanly dressed, and the way his entire body seemed to be in good shape, and the perfect smile he had on his face, and – _stop it_, Beca tells herself. Chloe notes the look on Beca's face.

"Are you going to tell Ian?" Beca snaps back to her friend.

"What? Why?" She says in a panicked voice.

"You know, most normal boyfriends would like to know if their girlfriend is working with their ex." Chloe quips. Beca glares at her.

"Ian and I aren't really dating, we're just hooking up a lot. I know that he wants a 'real' relationship, but he also knows that I don't want to give that to him. I'm trying really. We go out on dates and stuff, but I don't feel particularly inclined to suddenly start calling him my boyfriend." Beca explains to Chloe.

"Okay? Then what's so bad about this Jesse situation? Sure it'll be awkward, but you've handled awkward before. It's not like he expects you to get back together." Inside, Chloe knows that Jesse never got over Beca and hasn't dated at all in the two years they were separated

"I guess." Beca walks back into the dressing room with the new dress. "I'll figure it out."

* * *

><p><strong>July 28, 2017<strong>

Beca and Jesse had been working together for 3 weeks, and the way they fell back into their normal patterns was frightening. For Beca, really. She notices the way Jesse brings her juice pouches, just like he did in college, and notices how Jesse takes the time to listen to her instead of just talking about him, and she notices how much Jesse has changed, but manages to be the Jesse she was so desperately in love with. And it scares her. They broke up for a reason, right? Jesse, however, can't stop his smile as his heart flutters at seeing her at work everyday. He notices how she's started to lighten up on her makeup and wears skirts and dresses more, but still wears her ear spike everyday. He notices that her snark still can't be contained, and that she laughs a lot more now. He notices her ability to wow everybody with a simple edit to a song that seems life altering. Most of all he notices her nervousness when they're alone. He doesn't want that to still be there. After all, he's trying hard not to seem too eager around her. Jesse thinks he has a solution to this problem.

They aren't the only ones to see their companionship and chemistry. Their witty banter fills the recording studio everyday, and Ryan Fordham can't help but notice. He sees the way the young couple dances around their mutual attraction and longing. But he can't really say anything. Beca might kill him. This time he sees Jesse racing out to catch Beca, practically tripping out the door. He chuckles. One day the young couple might figure it out.

"Beca, wait!" Jesse shouts, tripping out the door after Beca.

"Yes nerd?" Beca replies coolly, adding in a simple flick of the head to let him know that she's listening. He grins his goofiest grin.

"I was wondering…" Blush spreads across his face.

"Come on Jesse, spit it out." Beca encourages, "We all know that thinking is hard for you, but does it have to take this long?"

"Haha Mitchell. Very funny." He deadpans, "I was wondering if we could start moviecation again. Judging by your lack of knowledge of recent movies, I would say that you haven't seen any movies in the last two years."

"You know, movies were kind of your thing." Beca reminds him, "But, yes nerd, we can do moviecation again." It slips out of her mouth before she can stop herself. He grins back at her.

"Great, my place or yours?" He says with a smirk.

* * *

><p>Beca feels like a fucking idiot. How could she so easily let the nerd who she never got over back into her life? (Chloe would never tell her this, but it's because she still loved him all this time). She paces back and forth as she waits for Jesse to ring on her doorbell. Beca had checked earlier to make sure that no traces of Ian were in her apartment (why did she care?) and she thought that she had cleaned away anything that might be embarrassing (although it didn't matter, he already knew everything about her, as much as she denies it). Beca groans. She was doing perfectly fine without him, why did he suddenly have to come back?<p>

The doorbell rings perfectly at 7pm and Beca is excited and at the same time dreading the sight of Jesse in her apartment. Beca races to the door to greet Jesse. She cracks open the door and peers out to see Jesse, handsome as always, grinning in her doorway with large grocery bag overflowing with… things.

"Becs!" He greets cheerily. Not before long Beca is smiling too and looking at him with adoration, something not overlooked by Jesse. "Cool place, how did you afford such a large apartment in LA?"

"I don't like to reveal all of my secrets," Beca claims, "I'm mysterious like that." He chuckles.

"RIIIiiight." He grins again, "So I was thinking we need to watch Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo, because it came out after we graduated and I know you haven't watched any movies since then. And if my memory serves me correctly, you didn't totally hate Finding Nemo. So Finding Dory it is!" His smile is infectious.

Beca shows him around her nice two-bedroom apartment. He chuckles and gives a 'figures' when she points out her barren kitchen, as she can't cook for the life of her. Jesse grins when he sees that she has a TV and a DVD player, something he didn't expect her to spend money on. Beca points out the bathrooms in the one hallway she has before showing him her bedroom. Gingerly, Jesse motions to see if he's allowed in. Beca nods her head. He smiles fondly at her mixing equipment in her bedroom, and looks carefully at all the pictures from their college days and the new photos from her life in LA. Jesse feels a little bit of relief, noting that he's still in some of the group photos she keeps at her bedside. Before leaving the room, a bit of maroon cloth catches his eye. It's his old Treble hoodie. Pointing towards a pile of clothing on her floor, he asks.

"Is that…?" Red creeps up Beca's face.

"… Do you want it back?" She asks warily.

"Nah, you can keep it."

Beca shakily leads him back to the living room, embarrassment written all over her face. She forgot about the stupid hoodie. That was the one thing that she couldn't bring herself to mail back to Jesse. She had sent back all of his old clothing, personal items, and yes, the few select movies, but couldn't pack away the soft maroon cloth that still smelled like him. Rounding the corner, she motions at him to start the movie. He hands her the popcorn for her to start microwaving (she can handle that, right?) while he sets up the movie. When Beca's back is turned to him, he opens the player to see a DVD already in it. Beca didn't watch movies. Why was there something in there? Jesse examines the DVD and Beca catches him.

"Don't Jess-" Beca starts, but it's too late.

"Is this The Breakfast Club?" He questions with the widest grin she's ever seen.

Apparently fate decides that it's embarrass Beca day.

* * *

><p><strong>October 14, 2017<strong>

Jesse remembers very vividly every single moment he had spent with Beca since he moved to LA. He's beyond upset that she's going on this date tonight, but he knows that he can't get drunk. He'll only make the situation worse. Instead Jesse picks up the box labeled "Beca" on it and opens it. He's managed to not have to open the box since moving in, but he finally gives in. Jesse thinks that his ability to avoid opening the box is the fact that he's seen her almost every day, which eases his need to see her. But knowing that she's someone else's (kind of anyways) kills him.

Jesse peels the tape off the side of the box and starts to remove things from the box. He pulls out her faded Bella's scarf; how she hadn't noticed it missing in the past two years he'll never know. He brings it up to his nose to see if he can smell any trace of Beca. He can't. Groaning, Jesse sets the scarf to the side and brings out the bottle of her shampoo and smells that instead. One of the things that Jesse was glad to find when he came to LA was that Beca still uses the same shampoo. He pulled her into a hug one moviecation night (those had become a regular Friday and Saturday event) and smelled her hair. It smelled exactly the same. Setting the bottle of shampoo aside, Jesse takes out a stack of photos of them together. At his apartment in New York, these photos had been everywhere almost wallpapering his entire apartment. Donald had thought it was excessive, but Jesse had to have his replacement Beca somehow. Jesse looks fondly at each memory. There's one of them at a graduation party (thrown by Beca's dad and Sheila, of course) that makes Jesse still. The last photo of them together. Ever. She's actually wearing a dress and he's in a nice suit. They're looking at each other like they're the only people in the room, his arms encircled around her as she looks up at him in adoration. Jesse can't fight back the tears anymore.

Letting out angry sobs, Jesse aggressively scatters the photos of him and her everywhere in his apartment. He grabs the nearest one and begins to tear. But he can't bring himself to do it. Beca was and is his life, and no matter how hard he tries he won't be able to rid her from his mind. Releasing a sigh of defeat, Jesse slumps against the back of his couch next to his box full of things of Beca. He finally pulls out the last thing in his box. The Breakfast Club.

As Jesse tries to regain his composure, he picks up all the photos he left everywhere and puts them back in the box. Then Jesse opens The Breakfast Club and places it into his DVD player. He can almost see Beca smiling and sitting next to him as she tells him she's sure it's a good movie. He can almost see her pull away from him. He can almost see her singing to him their song on national television. And his heart cracks at how much he's lost her.

* * *

><p>Beca pulls up to the restaurant five minutes late to her date with Ian. He honestly can't be mad at her because this isn't the latest she'd been to a date with him. She remembers about a month ago when she and Jesse had moviecation midday Saturday. That day she was also suppose to meet Ian for a late lunch date. Ian probably didn't mean for her to be late to their lunch date in saying late lunch date. But she was late because Jesse kept her for a half and hour more with his goofy talk and charming smile. God Jesse. Beca hates herself for the position she's put Jesse in. On one hand, they're totally broken up, she has no obligation to be with him. At the same time, it's Jesse. Her sweet, reliable, witty, adorable, Jesse that she misses way too much. But Ian had insisted on their date.<p>

Beca walks into the restaurant and sees Ian waving her over. She gives him a half-hearted smile and goes over to him.

"Hello beautiful, you look gorgeous." He smiles at her.

"You don't look half-bad yourself." She appraises back.

"I'm glad you didn't have to do anything with Jesse today." He says with a certain bitterness. And Beca can't stand it. It's really not Ian's fault. It is actually absurd how much time Beca had been spending with Jesse, especially since they weren't dating anymore. Still, Beca can't help but roll her eyes at Ian's comment and scold him

"Jesse's a great guy, plus we're not dating, just friends," Beca reasons with Ian.

"Whatever," Ian says grumpily, "Let's have dinner." He pulls out her chair.

Beca should have known that Ian was not going to be happy with her relationship with Jesse, but Beca had ignored the warning signs. As Ian rants on about how much Jesse bugs her, Beca winces at the memory of Jesse meeting Ian for the first time.

* * *

><p><strong>August 18, 2017<strong>

Recently Beca and Jesse had been hired by a man, who was filming an indie film, to create the score for the movie. Jesse is ecstatic and Beca… relieved. This meant that people really did enjoy what she did with music. However, this also meant really long days working with Jesse. Again, Jesse is ecstatic and Beca is nervous. She isn't sure if she could be spending longer than a workday in a small recording studio with Jesse. At least when they are just supposed to be coordinating they don't have to be alone in a small space. The tension between the two of them was off the charts to the people around them. To Jesse and Beca it feels so normal, but Beca is still incredibly flustered by Jesse's presence. Regardless of the nerves they felt around each other, Jesse had insisted on moviecation.

It had been three weeks since their first moviecation/hangout. They would usually do a moviecation on Friday after work and one on Saturday. Sometimes Jesse would even be able to convince Beca to do a moviecation during the middle of the week. He's caught her up on all of the recent movie hits and also any work of his that can be seen in any number of films or TV shows. Beca's played to him all of her recent mixes and even asked him for his opinion. To Jesse, it feels like no time has passed. They're still Jesse and Beca, couple (not really, but who cares) that's still in love (he hopes anyways). In some ways, they haven't really changed, but Beca knows something that Jesse doesn't know. Ian. Beca knows about Ian. She also dreads introducing the two.

They're in a recording studio with Jesse tapping out the rhythm to the recorded orchestra music. They've already finished a first draft of the score. As much as they deny it, everybody knows it's because of their undeniable chemistry. They work so easily together and completely understand what the other person is trying to express. One of the new hires at stopRecord had even mistaken them for dating, something that Beca hastily denied while a look of hurt flashed across Jesse's face. The aca-alum have all been following what they've been doing too. Chloe has taken to coming to visit Tom at every moment possible during their workdays just to spy on Jesse and Beca. Normally Jesse and Beca are pouring over music in a recording studio sharing glances with each other. It's like they're in their own separate world. They've also redeveloped their banter from their college days. Chloe can't help but notice that Beca smiles more and more since Jesse's come the LA.

"Something doesn't feel quite…filled as the rest of the score." Beca says pointing to the top of one of the last pages. Jesse reaches over to look at it. As he does so he accidentally brushes one of Beca's breasts and immediately looks incredibly flushed. Beca blushes too.

"Sorry…" He stutters, with a sheepish grin, "I really didn't mean to…"

"It's okay nerd, nothing you haven't felt before." She winks back at him. His jaw hinges open. He really can't believe that Beca would say something like that (actually he really can). On the other hand, Beca just thinks about how dangerous it is to flirt with him. She holds her grin, but her gaze softens, "I know you didn't mean to. Let's play this part again." She says and presses play.

While Beca closes her eyes to fully commit herself to the music, Jesse is staring at her. He studies the way her head bobs up and down with the music, the way she taps her feet against the desk, the way she's truly lost in the music. Even though she's not dressed in anything particularly special, Jesse can't help but think this is the most beautiful he's ever seen her (and that's saying a lot). He sighs and runs his hands down his face. He wishes that she could see how much she means to him. He wishes that she would already be his again. Really, he wishes that they were never separated. The last note suspends in the air as the music fades away. Her blue eyes peel open and meet his brown ones. Unspoken words are exchanged between the two of them. Jesse leans in closer and closer until Beca exclaims,

"I know exactly what this needs!" She jumps away from Jesse. All the while Jesse is thinking about how stupid he just was. _She never even admitted that she might want you at all_. She scurries around excitedly pulling out a pencil and says confidently.

"We need solid vocals here." Jesse looks at her and then down at the score. "We could ask one of the artists I work with to do it. I was thinking a male vocal and a female vocal and…" As she rambles on Jesse just thinks about how nice it would sound if she was singing it. Interrupting her, Jesse suggests,

"What if you do it?" She looks at him in shock.

"What?"

"What if you do it? I mean, I'm sure it's been a while since you've performed, hell it's been two years since I've performed too, but I think it would better with you than with anybody else." Jesse reasons, "Plus, it would be cheaper." She studies his face for a moment to see if he's joking.

"Okay." Beca concedes, "One condition, you do it with me."

They find themselves shoved in a recording studio about an hour later after Jesse writes their parts with Tom manning the booth. Jesse pulls his headphones over his hears and glances over to Beca, looking completely unsure about what she's about to do.

"Hey, Becs," Jesse catches her attention, "It'll sound great." Grinning back at him she says,

"It's not me I'm worried about, it's you. Who knows if you can still sing?" She says cheekily. He rolls his eyes at her. She sticks her tongue out back.

"Okay guys, you ready to try this?" Tom calls from the other side of the booth. They nod. The beautiful melody that Jesse has written starts to pump through to them. Beca starts her part. Not long after, Jesse joins in creating the most beautiful harmonies. Their voices blend together in the most enchanting and haunting melody. They continue this for a few more takes.

On their last take of the day, Chloe slips into the studio. To her surprise, she sees Beca singing for the first time in years and Jesse right next to her, looking at her with total and complete adoration. Halfway through their take Ryan Fordham also slips into the studio. He didn't know that Jesse could sing, let alone Beca, who has worked for him for two years. He stands back as the ending notes play. However, Chloe does not.

"GUYS, THAT WAS AMAZING!" Chloe shouts loudly. Beca cringes at the volume, while Jesse chuckles at Beca's expression. Tom just leans in to give his fiancée a kiss on the top of her head.

"Really well done Beca, you too Jesse." Ryan says, "I expect more great work like this in the future." Ryan exits the booth along with Chloe and Tom leaving Beca and Jesse all alone.

"See, I told you it would sound great." Jesse smiles at Beca.

"Yeah, I guess." Beca says.

"You guess? Really Becs? That's the best compliment you can give to me." Jesse strikes a pose. Beca reaches over and pushes him.

"Dork." She steps towards him.

"Weirdo." He steps closer.

"Ner-" Before she can finish, Ian walks into the booth to see Beca and Jesse standing toe to toe. "Ian, hey." Beca says, flustered by his sudden appearance. Jesse narrows his eyes at Ian, Ian does the same to Jesse.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to grab dinner." Ian says warily, still glaring at Jesse. He walks possessively towards Beca and plants a kiss on the top of her head.

"Yeah sure, let me grab my stuff. I'll meet you back here in, like, five minutes." She waves at Jesse, "See you tomorrow."

Her mind is racing. She was going to kiss Jesse and Ian walked in. Jesse saw Ian kiss her. Jesse didn't know about Ian. Ian didn't know about Jesse. How did she get herself into this mess?

Jesse and Ian glare at each other in the recording booth. Ian visibly sizes Jesse up, while Jesse just feels like he's dying on the inside. Did Beca have a boyfriend? After a minute of staring, Jesse sticks out his hand.

"Jesse, Beca's coworker." Ian looks surprised at Jesse's hand before reaching out to shake it.

"Ian, Beca's…" Jesse feels smug knowing that Ian doesn't really know either. But then again, he really shouldn't because Ian could kiss and hold Beca all he wanted while all Jesse could do was pine after her. God, this is pathetic. "Hope you're treating her well at work."

"No need to worry." Jesse replies as Ian walks out the door, "I hope you're treating her well, too."

He's such a fucking idiot.

* * *

><p><strong>October 14, 2017<strong>

As Don't You starts to play at the end of The Breakfast Club, Jesse decides that he needs to apologize for what he said to Zoe. It wasn't fair for either of them… And Jesse realizes what a shitty friend he'd been to her. Dialing her number, Jesse starts to worry. What if she won't ever forgive him? The dial tone rings in his ear. He goes to voicemail.

"Leave your message after the *beep*" Jesse hears, *beep*

"Hey Zoe, it's Jesse. I guess I want to apologize for the way I treated you a few months ago. I realize now that I've been totally absorbed in my life and my problems to realize that there are important things happening in your life." Jesse sighs, "I'm also sorry that I was too stubborn to apologize to you sooner. I know this sounds like I'm just apologizing to talk about my problems again, but I really just need to talk to you about anything. Please call me."

* * *

><p><strong>August 18, 2017<strong>

Jesse walks out of the recording booth and runs his hands through his hair. It was too good to be true. Jesse sits defeated on a bench outside the office building. Beca has a boyfriend. A hot boyfriend. And it's not him. He takes a deep breathe and thinks about what he's going to do now. Jesse wants to be with Beca. He wants to hold her hand every day and hold her when he goes to bed. He wants to be the one to ask her about her day and listen to her problems. He wants to be her boyfriend again, but he thinks it's clearly not happening.

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, Jesse taps in his passcode. He pulls up his photos. Most of his photos from LA have been of Beca. Beca at work, Beca at lunch between work, Beca at his apartment during moviecation, Beca asleep during moviecation, the list goes on. Jesse groans at how much he needs her. Finally, he decides to call Zoe. He dials her number and waits for her to pick up.

"Hello." Zoe says warily. Recently, all they had talked about was Beca. How amazing Beca is, or how much he needs Beca. Beca did this or Beca did that, and Zoe is seriously sick of it. Plus she's on a date. With her girlfriend. Whom Jesse probably doesn't know exists.

"Zoe, Beca has a boyfriend." Jesse sighs into the phone. She feels a twinge of sympathy mixed into her utter annoyance with him.

"And?" Zoe asks snippily. She's had enough.

"It sucks. I've stuck with her for so long and I've even been spending a lot of time with her and not once has she mentioned him." Jesse moans, "I just feel like there's no one out here for me in LA and I'm just so goddamn alone." Jesse adds, not even caring how dramatic he sounds.

"That's great Jesse, but I'm on a date right now." Zoe replies flippantly.

"I'm having a horrible day today. I just need to talk to you." Jesse says.

"Look Jesse, yes I'm sorry she has a boyfriend, yes I'm sorry that you're not together, but recently you've been a real asshole to me." Zoe snaps, "All we've talked about in our recent phone conversations are your problems, your life, your Beca. I would really appreciate it if you actually acknowledged that there's someone other than you and Beca every once in a while. I bet you can't even tell me the name of my girlfriend!" Zoe shouts into the phone. "Figure it out Jesse, I love you, but you're being a real dick." The dial tone sounds. Jesse stands still, shocked at this revelation. Why couldn't he see any of this happening? Why was he so goddamn self-centered?

Jesse can't help but think that two of the most important people in his life are gone now. And most importantly, he's really the one at fault.

* * *

><p><strong>October 14, 2017<strong>

Dinner with Ian had been going well. Well meaning there had been no fighting about Jesse, or really fighting in general, or inappropriate sexual comments by either of them at inopportune times, and no talk about "taking their relationship to the next level". Beca is feeling relieved to say the least. But, even though Ian and her are having a lovely evening, Beca can't help but think about Jesse. She never had to worry about having a boring date with Jesse like she did with Ian. Jesse had also always been so tuned to her that he knew exactly what she needed at the time. Jesse made her love him more than she thinks she'll ever feel with Ian. She realizes now that Jesse is it for her, no matter how messy and complicated they are now. She also believes that her and Jesse can't ever be together again. She hurt him too much and hurt herself too much. If it were to happen again, she wouldn't be able to pick herself up again.

"So Becs," Ian brings her out of thought, "I've been thinking." _Have you really?_ Beca rolls her eyes.

"Yes Ian?" Beca replies. She really needs to break up with him.

"Anyways," He says dismissing her interruption, "We should take our relationship to the next level. Now I know what you're thinking, you think that you can't make a commitment for whatever reason." Jesse is implied as the reason, "But I think that we can be good together, hell even great. So that's why I think we should move in together. What do you say?" He looks up at her with expecting eyes. Beca starts to panic. She hasn't lived with anyone else before, not even Jesse, who she had a much more meaningful relationship with. And God, Jesse, what about him now? Who was he to her now? Who was she to him? Would she ever feel the way she felt about Jesse with Ian? Probably not. Would Ian ever give her the same kind of meaning to life that Jesse did (does really)? Probably not. Does she even feel anything for Ian? No. And suddenly it comes to her, Ian isn't for her and she's known that for a while. So she takes full advantage of the opportunity (kind of, it's actually quite mean, but time nonetheless).

"I think we should break up."

* * *

><p><strong>August 25, 2017<strong>

Jesse had been living in LA in a hotel for almost two months and he was finally moving out. After getting off of work later today Jesse would pick up his furniture that Benji had shipped him and he would move all of his personal items and furniture into his apartment. His life in LA would officially start.

Jesse and Beca continue to work with each other. Ever since meeting Ian, Jesse has been a little more closed off to everyone. He and Beca still talk like they're the old friends they are, but there's a certain tension behind all of their words. Beca is simply even more nervous around Jesse. She knows that she should have told both of them about each other. She hasn't even told Ian that Jesse's her ex; all Ian knows is that they're coworkers on the film. They've been sitting comfortably in silence listening to the edited score and watching the movie. The vocals they recorded had been added to the piece. It sounds amazing. Jesse's deep and full voice permeates through the studio while Beca's enchanting voice draws everyone in. To everybody else, even Jesse, the score sounds finished and matches up with the movie perfectly, but Beca senses something is off. The vocals are too strong when they come out and only repeat once in the entire movie. Beca reaches across Jesse to adjust the balance of the vocals to the instrumental part. Her thin white t-shirt lifts up and reveals an expanse of her pale skin. Jesse gulps loudly before he realizes what she's doing,

"Whoa, Becs! What are you doing? The score sounds fine!" He exclaims.

"Keep your pants on, I'm making it better." She snaps before sliding the keys, "Listen to that now." Their voices start as barely a whisper in an almost silent part of the film. As the action builds, their vocals build. Suddenly they stop, and fall silent with the film again.

"Damn, Million Dollar Baby, I forgot that you knew what you were doing," Jesse teases, his eyes still not carrying the same energy they used to. Beca punches him.

"I was thinking that we should repeat the vocals somewhere else in the film, like in the opening scene. You know, as repetition." Beca suggests. Jesse nods. Beca reaches over him again and he mentally groans. She still had too much of an effect on him. "There, I think that's what it needs." Her eyes search for approval as he listens to it.

"Perfect." He scoffs, "I don't know how you do it." His gaze burns into her memory as one of adoration. One of the gazes that she missed getting since their Barden days. Pulling herself out of her haze, Beca asks,

"Where are we doing moviecation today?"

"Actually," Jesse says rubbing his neck, "I kind of have to move into my apartment today."

"Oh right." Beca says dejectedly, "You have other things to do…"

"You know that I love spending time with you Becs, it's just that I've been putting it off." _Why is she upset?_ Jesse thinks, _she has a boyfriend who she should be spending time with._

"Do you need any help?" She asks hopefully. Jesse snaps back to look at her. Beca shrinks a little bit, "I mean if you don't that's fine, I was just thinking that maybe…" She trails off.

"I'll see you at eight. I'll text the address." He smiles at her. He guesses spending a little time with her while she has a boyfriend is better than avoiding her completely.

* * *

><p>Beca pulls up to a nice apartment building. <em>Nice,<em> nice. It looks like a small luxury resort, complete with outdoor swimming pool. Of course the nerd would. She sees a moving truck, which she can only assume is Jesse's as several musical instruments are jammed into it. Beca pushes up her sunglasses, and saunters towards the truck. Stifling a laugh, Beca sees Jesse trying to balance a lamp on top of box filled with what she can only assume are DVDs.

"Hey nerd." Beca says casually. Jesse looks startled.

"Oh, hey Becs," He greets

"Need any help?" Beca asks, laughing at Jesse's struggle to the elevator. He rolls his eyes at her and says in a mocking tone,

"No, no just stand right there, I've got this." She grins at his response, "If you could pick up those boxes over there, that would be great."

They continue to load boxes, and various musical instruments up the elevator and into his apartment. Beca is glad to see that all the furniture has already been moved into his apartment and decides to give herself a tour while Jesse's out getting the last box. It was a rather spacious apartment, considering LA anyways. His living room was already filled with all of his instruments: an upright piano, a cello, an acoustic guitar, a drum set, and a bass. She ran her hands over the piano keys, remembering how he would play for her at Barden. A sad smile forms on her face as she recalls those happy memories. God, having Jesse in LA is so hard. On one hand, Beca wants to fall right back into their old patterns (they basically had, except without the, you know, kissing and stuff), but on the other hand she feels like she could still hurt Jesse and Jesse could still hurt her. Beca moves around the apartment exploring his kitchen, guest bedroom, really nice bathroom (seriously, the shower was a dream), and peeks into his bedroom right as he opens the door. She quickly exits to the living room to see Jesse hiding the last box behind his back. He waves nervously at her,

"Hey Becs." She narrows her eyes at him,

"What is that?" He rubs the back of his neck nervously.

"Nothing much." She points at the box and motions for him to give it to her.

"Come on Jesse, if it's nothing then why are you trying to hide if from me?" His head falls in defeat. Beca grins victoriously. He steps aside to reveal it labeled 'Beca'. She stops dead in her tracks. "Do you still have some of my stuff?" He nods guiltily, but then points back at her in indignation,

"You still have my stuff!" Beca blushes.

"Yeah, well so do you!" Beca playfully jests, and reaches to open the box. Inside she finds photos of them from college, her Bellas scarf, and other things. "YOU HAD MY BELLAS SCARF!" She looks at him, shocked. He grins sheepishly and mumbles,

"Maybe…" She continues to flip through the photos. She sees ones of them when they were in their freshman year and not yet dating, she sees one after their first ICCAs, she sees ones from every year of their relationship, and she understands why he has this all in a separate box. It all hurts too much. Jesse picks up one photo. It's them at a graduation party.

"Remember right before this picture was taken, Fat Amy nearly destroyed all of the Bellas' ICCA trophies and Aubrey was there and nearly ripped off her head." Jesse says. Beca starts to laugh. She picks up a picture of him trying to place cat ears on her head as she glares back at him in his full on Han Solo costume.

"Remember how drunk you got that night? I totally stole the light saber that you borrowed from Benji." She admits,

"I knew it was you! Benji almost killed me!" They laugh.

As the night goes on they reminisce over all their photos, completely disregarding how late in the evening it becomes. Suddenly it's 2 am and Beca realizes how late it is.

"I really should go..." Beca says regretfully.

"It's late, stay." Beca smiles at him, "Come on, I'm not letting you out by yourself this late."

"Okay, prince charming, I'll just sleep on the couch then." Beca starts to make herself comfortable on his couch. He stops her.

"You can sleep in the bed with me. I'm totally fine with it if you are." Her brain keeps telling her no, but her feet are already carrying her towards Jesse and into his room.

* * *

><p><strong>August 26, 2017<strong>

Ian does have a real reason to dislike Jesse, not just because it looked like he was going to kiss his kind of girlfriend, but for another reason. Beca wakes up to the sound of her phone ringing. She feels a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and looks behind her to see Jesse's sleeping face. _Shit, this is not good_, she thinks. Her phone rings again, she extracts herself from Jesse's arms and walks over to the box she placed her phone on. On the third ring she picks up.

"Hello?" She asks, sleepily.

"Beca really? We were supposed to meet for brunch." Ian's irritated voice rings out. Jesse stirs in his bed because of the lack of warmth.

"Shit, sorry I was up really late last night with my friends." She says, hoping he won't pry more. "I can be there in like 20 minutes."

"Becs, who is that?" Jesse's voice rings out. A grin crosses his face. He knows exactly what he's doing, asshole.

"Becs? Who is that?" Ian's voice grows more irritated. Beca glares at Jesse. He starts to laugh.

"That's Jesse, you met him last week. It was late so I crashed at his place." Beca explains weakly.

"Right." Ian's voice snips at her. "I can pick you up from his place."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

><p><strong>October 14, 2017<strong>

Jesse feels empty. He's finished watching The Breakfast Club. He's finished trying to call Zoe. He's finished looking at his pictures of him and Beca. And Beca's finished with him. Jesse walks around his apartment_. Coming to LA was a mistake_, he thinks. Beca doesn't really need him, and the only reason he's here (his job) involves Beca. He admits that getting to score a movie was pretty fucking awesome, but that is a project with Beca. And it hits him; all of his most amazing memories and achievements involve the most amazing girl. Who doesn't want anything to do with him, only interacting with him out of politeness (or so it seems, anyways). He thoughts start to spiral him down to the root of his problems. Beca. The girl he loves too much.

Suddenly his phone rings, pulling him out of his haze. He picks up.

"Jesse? It's Zoe." Jesse feels a rush of emotion. Sadness. Relief. Happiness. Guilt.

"Hey Zoe."

Their friendship isn't fixed, but it's a start.

* * *

><p>"I think we should break up." Beca says. Surprise registers on Ian's face.<p>

"What?" He sounds confused.

"It's not you, it's me." Beca laughs out loud. Ian looks annoyed that she's laughing while breaking up with him. "Listen you're a great person. If we had met in another time during my life it might have worked out between us, but I don't really feel that way about you." She amends.

"It's Jesse, isn't it?" Ian says bitterly,

"What?" Beca says, panicking a little at her ex's name. Ian isn't for her and that's all she's decided so far. Nothing about Jesse (or everything, really).

"There's an obvious chemistry between the two of you. The way he looks at you makes me want to throw up because it's just so goddamn sweet. And you look at him differently than anyone else. It's like he's fucking hung the moon or something." Ian calms himself down a little, "I know that you two have a history that you haven't told me about. You can't get that close to a person just by working with them for a few weeks." Beca's head hangs. Was it really that obvious the way she felt for Jesse?

"He's my college boyfriend." Beca admits, "He's the only person who I've had a really committed relationship with, and after we graduated I broke things off with him because I thought that it was the only to stop missing him. It hasn't gotten better. He's the only person I've ever been in love with."

"I hope you can be happy. With or without him." Ian says sincerely while standing up, "I'll see you around then. Goodbye Beca." He tips the waiter and walks out. Beca sits there at the table a little while longer. She doesn't even know what to do now. Do she and Jesse even stand a chance anymore? Could he trust her in their relationship again? Could she trust herself in their relationship again? Would she just keep hurting him? Would she just keep hurting herself? Would Jesse ever forgive her?

Jesse hears someone knock on the door. He gets up off his couch and walks towards the door.

He's not expecting anyone, especially not her. Not her in a beautiful navy blue dress, her curls falling out of her bun, her heels held in her hands as she stares at him with her impossibly blue eyes.

"Hi." She whispers. He only stares back in awe.

"H-hi." He stutters, "You look gorgeous."

"Thanks." A small smile appears on her face. "I broke up with Ian. And I didn't want to face Chloe or the Bellas, but I didn't want to be alone. I'm not really sure why I came here…" She trails off. He feels relieved. Relieved that she broke up with that fucker. But he feels apprehensive. There's something else that she's keeping from him. And he feels exhilarated, that she's actually here in front of him instead of Ian.

"Come in. It's totally fine." He gestures for her to enter. She drops her shoes next to his door as she walks in. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"No thanks, I'm fine." Beca reaches up to take out the pins in her hair. "Sorry if I'm intruding on anything."

"No, you're fine." He replies. They sit in silence for a while, her on his couch, him on the bar stool in his kitchen. "So…Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Beca groans, "Yes, I don't know. I just…something came to me during dinner with Ian and I realized that he meant almost nothing to me."

"Mmhmm." Jesse replies, "Care to tell me what that was? You don't have to if you don't want to…it's just…I'm here for you." She looks him dead in the eye.

"I thought about us." Jesse's heart stops beating. _Since when was there still an us?_ He thinks.

"What." He says rather stupidly.

"I though about how Ian and I compared to us as a couple and nothing was right. Nothing about how Ian and I interacted. Nothing about how he felt for me. Certainly nothing about how I felt for him. Absolutely everything was wrong." Beca gets up off the couch and walks towards him, "I just realized that when you're with someone you probably shouldn't have to pretend that you like them." Jesse chuckles. He hops off his bar stool and meets her halfway.

They stare into each other's eyes. His searching for the shine in her eyes when she used to tell him she loved him. It's there and it's undeniable. He leans his head down. Beca stands on her tiptoes.

When their lips meet, Jesse swears he sees fireworks. Beca suddenly feels like she's home.

* * *

><p><strong>October 15, 2017<strong>

Beca wakes up completely naked in a strange bed with a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. Jesse. She's fucked up. _It shouldn't have happened_, she tells herself over and over as she extracts herself from his touch. She glances at the clock. It's 3 am. He won't wake up anytime soon. She finds her underwear and dress pulls them on. _It's only going to become messy_, she tells herself as she grabs her shoes and exits his apartment silently.

She runs down the stairs of his apartment building. She's stuck. No one is awake at this hour. No one that can take her home anyways. She needs to get home and she needs to talk to someone. Chloe. Chloe wouldn't care, would she? Dialing Chloe's number, Beca shivers in the evening (well, morning) cold.

"This better be good Beca."

"Oh trust me, you'll want to hear about this."

Jesse wakes up only to feel a cold spot next to him. Was last night a dream? No, it most certainly was not. He groans. Why did Beca have such a hold on him? Why was he more upset at himself than at Beca currently? Why did Beca leave again? Why did Beca leave in the first place? The question that he hasn't had an answer for the past two years.

Jesse dreads going into work on Monday.

* * *

><p><strong>October 16, 2017<strong>

Jesse and Beca are sitting in silence. Beca's blue eyes burning into the score, Jesse's brown ones burning into the side of her head. The producers of the movie sit across the table from them.

"So, what was your inspiration for this piece?" One of the producers asks, clearly trying to ease some tension between the two talented young musicians. Beca continues to stare at the score. Jesse's head snaps to face them.

"At least for me, I don't know about Beca anymore," His comment stings into her skin, "This was inspired by a love and a rush that you can only find with one person, and even when they're gone you still feel that pull. You still want to be in that rush." Beca adds quietly,

"Suddenly you become scared of the rush. You take a step back and realize your mistake because you can't ever get back." Jesse freezes at her words. Did that evening really mean nothing to her?

"Well, whatever the inspiration, this is just fabulous." The other producer says, pointing at his watch, indicating that they might leave soon. "Who did the vocals?" He asks.

"We did." Jesse says shortly.

"That's amazing." The first producer says, "Do you think that you could do a song for earlier in the movie. There's this one song that I love the meaning, but it's too upbeat for the film. Would it be possible to have you guys do a different arrangement?" He asks with hopeful eyes. From the door a voice calls,

"They would be happy to." Ryan Fordham appears out of the shadows. "I'm their boss, they kind of have to now." He adds smiling at the two of them.

"When can you guys have it done?"

"They'll have it done by the end of the week. Thanks for your time."

"Alright, pleasure to meet you all. We have to run out to another meeting, but we'd love hear the new song. Thanks so much." The second producer says, pulling the first on out of the studio. "We'll email you the song!"

As soon as the door shuts, Ryan looks sternly at the two of them.

"We've been at work for a total of one hour so far this week and you both look like you're dying." Ryan sighs, "I don't really care what's happening in both of your lives, but you need to start acting like goddamn professionals. I put up with all of your laughy, giggly, bullshit because you guys put out some nice work during that time, but now if you won't talk to each other, I will force you to be professionals and work with each other. Please get started on the song." Ryan slams the door shut.

"Okay…" Jesse says slowly, "I guess we should get started."

* * *

><p>Beca laughs bitterly when she checks her email and finds that the song they want them to redo is "Don't You" by Simple Minds. Jesse visibly shrinks when he reads his email. How the hell was he supposed to get through "Don't You" (their song!) without doing something stupid? Beca almost whispers,<p>

"Let's get this over with."

"Agreed."

* * *

><p>They've silently agreed to try and finish the song today so they don't have to see each other the rest of the week. So naturally they've been in the studio for 12 hours. Jesse's eyes keep burning into the side of her head, and Beca's only spoken one word answers to his questions. Jesse's beyond frustrated.<p>

They've already recorded the instrumentation, and now it's time for them to record the vocals. Jesse awkwardly opens the door to the booth and gestures for Beca to step through. She brushes past him quickly and shoves on her headphones. Jesse follows in suit. Tom is reluctantly manning the booth after Beca called him earlier in the evening to ask for a favor. Tom plays the music through their headphones. Beca starts out her voice working with the instrumentation of a slow ballad. The lyrics burn in her mouth. Jesse soon joins in, his vocals raising hers up. Their voices meld together in the most beautiful melodies, all the while Jesse's eyes burn into the side of her head. Beca's part ends and Jesse finishes the song. He catches her eye as he sings his final,

"Don't you forget about me." Beca feels overwhelmed. And something snaps in Jesse. It seems that she so easily dropped him when they broke up, that there was no heartache for her and over two years of heartache for him. He waited those two years for her, while she got a boyfriend. All the while, she was messing with his head, being there constantly with him, acting like no time had passed. When shit hit the fan with her boyfriend, she came to him. And then left him. Jesse still doesn't know the reason they broke up the first time. He wants answers.

"Why did we break up, Beca?" Jesse snaps.

"What?" Her eyes meet his with shock and anxiety.

"You tell me, Beca. I've had my heart broken for two years because of you, because I love you." His gaze heats up over her. Tom quietly leaves the room. "I've waited two years to even see you and when I do you act like no time has passed, clearly ignoring the elephant in the room. I could handle it during those months because at least you were acknowledging me, acting like I might have actually meant something to you. And then you don't tell me about your boyfriend. You don't even realize how much it killed me to see you with him, while you're still acting like we're still in a relationship. I don't even know how to handle that. AND then, two nights ago, you come over and tell me it's done between you and Ian and we sleep together. But the next day, you don't even acknowledge me. You don't even consider me. It's like I don't even matter to you."

"That's not true Jes-" Beca starts to say. Jesse cuts her off,

"Is it though? You never seem to realize or address my feelings towards you and our relationship. Hell, I don't even know why we broke up in the first place. We were good, we were happy, and suddenly it's like I didn't even matter anymore." Her shoulders slump. "Why did we break up?"

"I don't know…" Beca whispers

"Bullshit." Jesse says. The room suddenly feels unbearably small and the space between them is closing. Jesse's lips collide with hers. It's not a sweet kiss, or a passionate kiss. Hell, it's not even an angry kiss. It's desperate, like he needs her to breath. He looks her in the eye again.

"Do I really mean nothing to you?" Jesse asks. Beca fails to form a coherent thought. Tears threaten to roll down her face. Jesse has to know that he means everything to her. Every moment. Every word. Every touch. Everything that she can't even express. Jesse's eyes search her face. Her eyes cast down. His shoulders slump. "Then I'm done chasing you."

Beca watches as he retreats out the door. She slumps down the side of the recording booth. Hot tears start to run freely down her cheeks.

She's really messed up this time.

* * *

><p><strong>October 20, 2017<strong>

Jesse doesn't come into work for the rest of the week. And Beca's pissed at everyone. Pissed at the interns who mess up her coffee order. Pissed at the other producers who try and fuck with her tracks. Pissed at Ryan for making her work with Jesse. Pissed at Jesse for not coming into work (although, she doesn't really blame him. She's been kind an asshole towards him). But mostly, she's pissed at herself, for hurting Jesse like that (again).

People can tell too. Every other person at work has avoided her (except for Tom, because Chloe would kill him). And all of the Bella's are clearly confused by her sudden anger. Chloe's really just concerned. She went over to Beca's apartment earlier that week after Beca had begrudgingly told her about her falling out with Jesse. After that Chloe went over to Jesse's apartment after harassing Tom for his address. Chloe tried to talk to Jesse about his relationship with Beca. All she got out of him was "we're done." And some mumblings about packing up and clearing out his apartment. And now Chloe is sitting in the lobby of stopRecord debating on telling Beca about Jesse.

"Chloe, what are you doing here?" Beca asks, snapping Chloe out of her thoughts. _It's now or never_, Chloe thinks.

"I know you kind of forbid me to talk about this," Beca visibly shrinks, "But, I went to talk to Jess-"

"You did what?" Beca asks deathly calm, pain evident on her face.

"Look, it's been two years and you still can't admit that you're still in love with him. I know how much your little spat on Monday hurt you. But I think he's a little bit right. Yes, I know that you're upset, but you have to see it from his perspective. You suddenly broke up with him without any real explanation, and honestly I'm still pretty sure you don't know why you broke up with him either. Then he comes back and you act like you're in a relationship with him even though you're not, and it feels great for him because it's just like when you were in love. But then, you ruined it. You had one night together and then ignored him. Made him feel like nothing. So I think it's time that I've called you out on it. It's not fair to him. But I'm also giving you a chance. I visited him and I think he's thinking about moving back to New York. You need to fix things before it's too late." Beca's face morphs into one of sadness and guilt. Chloe's right, and Beca knows it. She mulls it over. What does she do about Jesse? She knows that she's wronged him. But is she ready to accept that? She's too scared to admit it. Is she ready to face her feelings for him? Not, really. Again, scared. But is she really ready to let him go? And suddenly the answer is clear. Looking up at Chloe, Beca finally answers.

"Thanks, Chlo." Beca says.

* * *

><p>Jesse sits on his couch for the fifth day in a row. He looks around his apartment, and sees traces of Beca in every part of his apartment. She's in the open movies cases from moviecation. She's in her favorite brand of popcorn on the kitchen counter. She's in the instruments he has in the living room. And she's really in all the memories that have been resurfaced in the past months. Jesse has never felt worse. He really thinks that he should be mad at her. She's strung him along for so long, avoiding the topic they desperately needed to talk about. Yet again, he didn't push it either. And he's really just mad at himself, for letting himself fall for her all over again.<p>

He's been stuck in his own thoughts for days debating about moving back to New York. Jesse's Beca box has been packed away and stored in his closet. He'd like to think that he hasn't thought about her because she doesn't have that much of an effect on him, but he'd be lying. She's all that he can think about. The way she walked back into his life, the way they fell easily back into their old patterns, the way she quickly reminded him what he so desperately needs in his life. He thinks about how she was quite simply the most important thing in his life since college, but how he's not hers, and how she's hurt him too many times, but how he can't seem to let her go.

Someone knocks tentatively on the door. Surprised, Jesse walks over to the door and opens it slowly. It's Beca.

"Hi." Beca says nervously.

"Beca." Jesse says, his gaze stone cold.

"Look, I know that you probably don't want me here," he snorts, "but I need to explain and apologize to you."

"You just don't get it, do you?" Jesse asks incredulously, "I've waited for you for two years. I've given you all the opportunity to explain and apologize and NOW you want to say something, when I just don't want to hear it." Tears of frustration start to form in his eyes, "I love you Beca Mitchell, but I can't keep waiting for you."

"I'm not here to make you wait, I'm here to give you answers that you deserve." Beca replies, pain evident in her eyes. She looks down before beginning, "All my life I've lived it like I was alone, because no one ever really showed me love. My mom was cold to me after my dad left, and I wouldn't even talk to my dad. Then you came along, and everything changed. I was so happy with you, and you made me realize what it was like to be in love and how good it felt to have someone love you. It scared me. What if one day you decided that I wasn't good enough? What if one day I was left alone without you? What if one day you left me?" Beca's hands start to shake, "But when those thoughts came along at Barden, you were always there to hold my hand and kiss my head and life would be good again. After we graduated, we moved to opposite sides of the country and you weren't there to calm my fears. I was so scared of losing you without any warning at all that I decided that I would let you go. It all sounds so stupid now. I really didn't have a legitimate reason to break up with you. We were in love and we were happy and I'm so sorry that I royally fucked it up." Beca's words pierce through Jesse's mind. It's hard for him to grasp that the one he loves so totally and completely could ever feel like he didn't. Beca continues, "It was never your fault the way I felt. It was always my own insecurities." She looks up at Jesse, "I'm sorry for this weekend. It was so dumb of me. I was scared again. Scared that if we started again, it would only end in pain. I don't deserve you, and you deserve someone so much more than me. I'm not asking that we're magically fixed, but I just needed to tell you the answers you so deserve."

Jesse meets her eyes. Beca's right. Things aren't magically fixed between them. She's done a lot of things that go against them, but he hasn't exactly dealt with their issues in the best way possible. Jesse takes Beca's cheek in his hand. He searches her eyes for a sign that there's still something between them, that they could still be something. Her eyes answer his questions. Their lips crash together. He can feel her smile against his lips. She can feel his laughter bubbling up in his chest.

She's done running, and he's never going to let her go.

* * *

><p><strong>March 16, 2018<strong>

Beca should not be up this early. It's 7am on a Friday, and she's waiting at an airport (which means she got up earlier than 7!) for her stupid boyfriend's stupid flight to get in. She has her hair in messy waves from the previous night at Chloe's (third) engagement party, and she has smudges of faded eyeliner under her eyes. A large cup of coffee sits firmly in her hand as she checks her phone with the other. He should have landed by now. Jesse's really goddamn lucky that she loves him otherwise she would not be here.

Things have been great between them. It was a little awkward at first suddenly being back in a relationship with the other (also telling all of their friends, Beca's pretty sure she's still partially deaf in one of her ears from Chloe's screeches), but they quickly found their dynamic again. Beca taps her foot impatiently on the hard tile of the airport. They really did have things to do in their lives, believe it or not. Suddenly, she feels a pair of strong arms snake around her waist, and she almost drops her coffee.

"Hey Million Dollar Baby," He presses a kiss to the top of her head. She turns around in his arms to face him.

"Tell me again why I'm up this early?" She replies, nuzzling into the soft material of his shirt.

"Because you love me," Jesse says with a cheeky grin. Beca smacks his chest, "And, I needed to get the rest of my stuff from New York and finish some business with Liam before I could officially move here, and in with you, may I add."

"Oh right," Beca says playing dumb, "Aren't I moving in with you? Not you moving in with me?"

"I guess so," Jesse fakes a sigh, "You're always right."

"You better get used to it, especially since we're about to be roomies." Beca shoots back. Jesse removes his arms around her waist and slings one of his bags over his shoulder. He picks up a rolling suitcase with one arm and loops the other back around her waist. Jesse looks at Beca with puppy dog eyes and she sighs at him. Putting her phone into her back pocket, Beca takes the last of his luggage into her arms. They begin to walk out of the airport side by side. "You're lucky that I love you, otherwise I might have to get rid of you."

"Never." He replies while pressing a kiss to her temple. He removes his hand from around her waist to brush a piece of hair off her face. On its way back to her waist, Beca catches a glimpse of something dark on his skin. She catches his hand.

"What's this?" Beca questions, examining at the offending markings on the inside of his wrist. On the inside of his left wrist in typewriter font reads the word 'inevitable'.

"It's my surprise to you." Jesse replies, looking nervously at the floor. "I figured that it's what we were all of these years." Beca grins at him.

"It's perfect, Jess."

"Also I kind of need to up my street cred if I want to be seen around you." Beca throws her empty coffee cup at his head, "Hey! Don't litter!" She picks up her coffee cup at throws it in the trash.

"I love you, nerd."

"Love you too, weirdo."

* * *

><p><strong>AN2: SURPRISE! I'M BACK! (a month and a half after I said I would have this done. Oops...)<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed reading that! This took a lot more writing than I thought it would and tested my patience several times, but I loved finishing it and finally having a finished fic. This was a buttload longer than I thought it would be...**

**Thank you to all those who reviewed: gossipsweetlips, .792aka anna47fans, pennstate13, and the several guest reviewers!**

**I would love to hear what you think about this ending!**

**I may or may not start an AU Jeca fic in the near future, depending on whether or not I have time, but I would love to keep writing**

**Thank you again for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!**


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